If you were a boy growing up in the 1970’s, you were probably a Kiss fan. I know I was. It was the first music I ever really got into & the first album that I ever bought was “Kiss Alive 2”, I remember sitting for hours staring at the gate fold sleeve of the album while I listened to it. Soon I went out and purchased Destroyer, Love Gun & the grand daddy of all Kiss albums “Double Platinum” (which I do own on disc). Kiss was the hottest thing going in the mid to late ’70’s, especially to young kids, and they knew it & marketed to it. When this album was released in 1978 I was 10 years old & I bought the Kiss Ace Frehley Halloween costume and trick or treated as Ace. In ’78 while the band was riding high they & Casablanca records had a genius idea for a money grab. Instead of just releasing 1 new Kiss album they figured they could quadruple their money by releasing 4 Kiss solo albums. They shipped 1 million of each and sat back waiting for the money to roll in. Problem was they had over saturated the market, and the albums were just not that good. Except for the one from Ace. If I hear “New York Groove” even now it will be stuck in my head for days. It would be the only song of any of the 4 albums that would hit billboards top 40. It wasn’t the Acid Rock (as it was called then) that Kiss was producing, it was more straight ahead bubble gum rock. There were other fun tracks on this album also such as “Speeding Back To My Baby” & “Rip It Out”.

One Response to #163 Ace Frehley – Kiss Ace Frehley (1978)

I just heard “Break Out”. It’s 2011.GREAT SONG!!! I was never a kiss fan cause of the costumes but all the guys liked them including my little brother. I liked “Detroit Rock City” and “Dr Love”,(I use to cover. My 3piece band, which were the 2/3) had Kiss posters everywhere in the practice barn in the US. When I heard Ace Frehly w/The Acorn, it was on a cassette. CD’s were rare. Now 25yrs later, AM DISCOVERING ALL ABOUT “ACE FREHLY’S GUITAR PLAYING AND MUSIC, NOW THAT THERE IS A DROUGHT.
WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, WE HAD A CHOICE OF THE BEST! LED ZEP,
JEFF BECK, WE GOT SPOILED IN THE 60’s AND AT 8, I WAS LISTENING AT
BLACK SABBATH. DID MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FLOOR GYMNASTIC TO
FAIRIES BOOTS W/OUT THE SINGING. I GOT UNDER 80 CUZ OF MY CHOICE OF MUSIC! I SHOULD HAVE GOT 100%. IT WAS NOTHING TO GET A 100%. IT WAS STUFF I ALREADY KNEW AND BORING.i FINISHED AT 15YRS OLD W/DIPLOMA & LEFT HOME. Discovered the A-corn in NH, 1988.
been back to this no-opportunity land, since Nov.4th 1989. Took a double and some sabbatical to become a guru to myself. :Looking for work as a rhythm guitarist. I can be found on FB.